This in from DC: Licata 1, Sonics 0

City Council President Licata plans to testify Thursday before a Congressional subcommittee on his opposition to taxpayer subsidies for sports stadiums.

Licata’s prepared speech concludes:

Municipalities need to provide more important pubic services than building half-billion dollar multi-hundred sports venues whose primary purpose is not the enjoyment of sports games but producing profits for team owners and huge salaries for players. The Federal Government can stop this trend by using its regulatory authority. I urge you to do so.

Licata was asked to discuss “his successful attempt to fight a new arena being built in his city for the Seattle Supersonics,” according to a Congressional press release.

(Strange Bedfellows remembers it happening a little differently . And, although Licata helped the cause, the man behind the battle against public financing was from Licata’s longtime ally, Chris Van Dyk.)

Licata will speak before a hearing on: “”Build It and They Will Come: Do Taxpayer-Financed Sports Stadiums, Convention Centers and Hotels Deliver as Promised for America’s Cities?”

Kucinich chairs the Domestic Policy subcommittee of the House’s Oversight and Government Reform committee.